In the Book of Exodus, a simple Jewish shepherd named Moses was instructed by God to go to Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II and demand the freedom of his people.

Moses' plea to the Pharaoh to "Let my people go," was ignored.

Moses warned the pharaoh that God would severely punish the people of Egypt if the Israelites were not freed, but still the Pharaoh failed to heed Moses' plea.

According to scripture, God unleashed a series of 10 terrible plagues on the people of Egypt: blood, frogs, vermin, flies, cattle disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and last but not least, the slaying of all first-born children.

Moses and his people were delivered from slavery in Egypt.

Passover is celebrated with family gatherings wonderful meals called Seders, and the retelling of the story of the Israelites exodus from Egypt.

In our mixed-faith family we have developed a wonderful tradition of sharing our Seder with as many of our friends, Jews and gentiles alike, as our home can comfortably hold.

Whether you're Jewish or not, take a moment to contemplate the joys of your freedom, your responsibility to maintain it, and about those not fortunate enough to have freedom to enjoy.

Obama ran for president promising secure borders, increased number of legal immigrants, toremove incentives for illegal immigration, and to allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. President Obama promised to make
immigration reform a top priority of the first year of his presidency. When Obama backed away from that promise, Politifact rated his promise stalled.

The Democrats didn't get the message Americans sent them during last Summer's town hall meetings. Nor did the Democrats get it when the voters rejected Obama's radical agenda and elected Republicans to be governors of New Jersey and Virginia last November and to fill the so-called Kennedy senate seat earlier this year.

In the run up to the House vote, House Minority Leader John Boehner gave a terrific speech asking House members to join him in voting against Obamacare bill. Here are some of the best lines:

We have failed to listen to America.
And when we fail to reflect that will – we fail ourselves and we fail our country.

Look at this bill.
Ask yourself: do you really believe that if you like the health plan that you have, that you can keep it? No, you can’t.

Can you go home and tell your senior
citizens that these cuts in Medicare will not limit their access to
doctors or further weaken the program instead of strengthening it? No, you cannot.

And look at how this bill was written.
Can you say it was done openly, with transparency and accountability? Without backroom deals, and struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? Hell no, you can’t!

Have you read the bill? Have you read the reconciliation bill? Have you read the manager’s amendment? Hell no, you haven’t!

If you haven't seen or heard Leader Boehner's speech you ca watch or read it below:

Full transcript of House Minority Leader Boehner's address:

Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I rise tonight with a sad and heavy heart.Today, we
should be standing together, reflecting on a year of bipartisanship,
and working to answer our country’s call and their challenge to address
the rising costs of health insurance in our country.

Today, this body, this institution,
enshrined in the first article of the Constitution by our Founding
Fathers as a sign of the importance they placed on this House, should
be looking with pride on this legislation and our work.

But it is not so.

No, today we’re standing here looking at a health care bill that no one in this body believes is satisfactory.

Today we stand here amidst the
wreckage of what was once the respect and honor that this House was
held in by our fellow citizens.And we all know why it is so.

We have failed to listen to America.

And we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents.

And when we fail to reflect that will – we fail ourselves and we fail our country.

Look at this bill.

Ask yourself: do you really believe that if you like the health plan that you have, that you can keep it?

No, you can’t.

“In this economy, with this
unemployment, with our desperate need for jobs and economic growth, is
this really the time to raise taxes, to create bureaucracies, and
burden every job creator in our land?

“The answer is no.

Can you go home and tell your senior
citizens that these cuts in Medicare will not limit their access to
doctors or further weaken the program instead of strengthening it?

No, you cannot.

Can you go home and tell your
constituents with confidence that this bill respects the sanctity of
all human life, and that it won’t allow for taxpayer funding of
abortion for the first time in 30 years?

No, you cannot.

And look at how this bill was written.

Can you say it was done openly, with
transparency and accountability? Without backroom deals, and struck
behind closed doors, hidden from the people?

Hell no, you can’t!

Have you read the bill? Have you read the reconciliation bill? Have you read the manager’s amendment?

Hell no, you haven’t!

Mr. Speaker, in a few minutes, we will cast some of the most consequential votes that any of us will ever cast in this chamber.

The decision we make will affect every man, woman and child in this nation for generations to come.

If we’re going to vote to defy the
will of the American people, then we ought to have the courage to stand
before them and announce our votes, one at a time.

I sent a letter to the Speaker this week asking that the ‘call of the roll’ be ordered for this vote.

Madame Speaker, I ask you. Will you, in the interest of this institution, grant my request?

Will you, Mr. Speaker, grant my request that we have a call of the roll?

Mr. Speaker, will you grant my request that we have a call of the roll?

My colleagues, this is the People’s House.

When we came here, we each swore an oath to uphold and abide by the Constitution as representatives of the people.

But the process here is broken.

The institution is broken.

And as a result, this bill is not what the American people need, nor what our constituents want.

Americans are out there are making sacrifices and struggling to build a better future for their kids.

And over the last year as the
damn-the-torpedoes outline of this legislation became more clear,
millions lifted their voices, and many for the first time, asking us to
slow down, not try to cram through more than the system could handle.

Not to spend money that we didn’t have.

In this time of recession, they wanted us to focus on jobs, not more spending, not more government, certainly not more taxes.

But what they see today frightens them.

They’re frightened because they don’t know what comes next.They’re disgusted, because they see one political party closing out the other from what should be a national solution.

And they are angry. They are angry that no matter how they engage in this debate, this body moves forward against their will.

Shame on us.

Shame on this body.

Shame on each and every one of you who substitutes your will and your desires above those of your fellow countrymen.

Around this chamber, looking upon us are the lawgivers – from Moses, to Gaius, to Blackstone, to Thomas Jefferson.

By our actions today, we disgrace their values.

We break the ties of history in this chamber.

We break our trust with Americns.

When I handed the Speaker the gavel in
2007, I said: “this is the people’s House – and the moment a majority
forgets this, it starts writing itself a ticket to minority status.”

If we pass this bill, there will be no turning back. It will be the last straw for the American people.

And In a democracy, you can only ignore the will of the people for so long and get away with it.

And if we defy the will of our fellow
citizens and pass this bill, we are going to be held to account by
those who have placed us in their trust.

We will have shattered those bonds of trust.

I beg you. I beg each and every one of you on both sides of the aisle:

Do not further strike at the heart of
this country and this institution with arrogance, for surely you will
not strike with impunity.

I ask each of you to vow never to let this happen again – this process, this defiance of our citizens.

It is not too late to begin to restore the bonds of trust with our Nation and return comity to this institution.

And so, Join me.

Join me in voting against this bill,
so that we may come together anew, and address this challenge of health
care in a manner that brings credit to this body, and brings credit to
the ideals of this nation, and most importantly, it reflects the will
our people.

CNN's analysis shows that opposition in the House to the Senate Obamacare bill has reached 205 members:

A total of 27 House Democrats, including nine who supported the House plan in November, have indicated that they would join a unified Republican caucus in opposing the Senate plan, which passed in that chamber December 24 with the minimum required 60 votes.

Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the House plan in November, 17 have indicated that they will vote against the Senate plan as written, 11 remain uncommitted, and nine did not return repeated calls for comment.

The CNN numbers explain why the House Democrats leaders scheme to avoid a direct vote on the Senate bill with procedural shenanigans like the unconstitutional Slaughter gambit.

Two leading Democrat pollsters, Patrick Caddell and Doug Schoen, who conducted pols for presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton respectievly, warn that if Obama and his Democrat's continue to ignore the unpopularity of Obamacare they face a political rout in the November midterms.

Friday, March 12, 2010

In the setup to the following interview with New York Democrat Congressman Anthony Weiner, Megyn Kelly reveals that the Fox News political team now calculates that Democrats are just "four votes shy" of being able to pass their Obamacare bill through the House.

We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care,
start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that
will contain costs and wont leave America trillions of dollars deeper
in debt. -- Senator Scott Brown

In this week's Republican Address, newly-elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts explains that the Democrats running Washington have their Obamacare priorities all wrong:

Americans told me that they want their President and Congress to focus on creating jobs and reviving Americas economy. Instead, for more than a year now, we have seen a bitter, destructive, and endless drive to completely transform Americas health care system.

Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway. Their attitude shows Washington at its very worst the presumption that they know best, and they're going to get their way whether the American people like it or not.

I haven't been here very long, but, I can tell you this much already: Nothing has distracted the attention and energy of the nations capital more than this disastrous detour. And, the surest way to return to the peoples business is to listen to the people themselves: We need to drop this whole scheme of federally controlled health care, start over, and work together on real reforms at the state level that will contain costs and wont leave America trillions of dollars deeper in debt.

Watch the video of Senator Brown's address:

Brown’s victory in the January special election for the late Edward Kennedy's Senate seat provided Republicans with the 41st vote that enables the GOP to maintain a filibuster against unpopular Democrat legislation, like the Obamacare bill.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Employers for a Healthy Economy coalition opposes the President's Obamacare push with a new ad campaign urging Congress to begin listening to the American people and start over to get health care reform right.

The coalition says the Democrats' Obamacare legislation will not improve health care, and in fact, it will only make health care more expensive for small business, large business and individuals.

Your taxes will increase. There will be a massive new payroll tax, a new tax on investments and 401(k)s, a new tax on “Cadillac” health benefits, new taxes on medical devices and prescription drugs, new taxes on all health insurance policies, and increased taxes in the form of cost-shifting through lower payments to hospitals and doctors.

Jobs will be lost, or never created. The bill creates a huge incentive not to hire low-wage workers and not to grow a business beyond 50 employees. Employers who hire a low-wage worker, even if they offer great health insurance, could be fined $3000 per year.

The Politico reports Northrop Grumman’s decision not to bid on the contract for the Air Force’s new refueling tanker as a partisan exercise.
“[A] crippling error for Northrop may well have been its decision to
bank too long and too heavily on Republicans maintaining control,”
writes Jen DiMascio.

Politico’s editors may find partisan battles enticing, but the truth of this latest development lies more in the peculiarities of the deal Northrop cut with its European partner EADS/Airbus and less with which party controls key committees in Washington.

Northrop had been hinting for monthsbefore
last week’s announcement that it might not bid on the tanker deal. One
of the key reasons Northrop mentioned was that they felt the
specifications for the tanker in the RFP were biased in favor of
Boeing. Northrop was planning to offer an Airbus plane that was simply
too big and ill equipped for what the Air Force needs. Northrop’s
French partner actually began a campaign to criticize the U.S. Military for those specs -- something reminiscent (and not in a good way) of the long history of French criticism of U.S. defense policies.

What’s
more, the Northrop/Airbus partnership was beginning to unravel under
the weight of a preliminary finding by the World Trade Organization
that the Airbus plane offer had benefited from illegal EU subsidies,
something that would in all likelihood have disqualified the plane from
the bidding process when the finding is made permanent in a coming
final WTO report.

Is the battle between Boeing and EADS over? It’s unclear. A shadowy group called Build Them Both
–- a group that does not disclose its funding –- is urging President
Obama to step in and give each company a piece of the deal. This is an
even worse idea for the taxpayers but apparently a viable option for
the time being.